Seeing Red

I am still slogging on with the probably ill fated sweater mainly because I don't have the energy to rethink it at this point.

 I was really looking forward to having Sunday all to myself but woke up with a terrible migraine. In between naps I got a few more rows on much to Pup's dismay. She was a pretty good sport about trying it on from time to time to see if my plan was working.

I think the idea might be okay but the size may not. This yarn has no give and in order to get around my chunky monkey of a dog it's going to need plenty of give. I think a dive in the stash for better yarn is in my future-when my headache's gone.

Something to Celebrate

 That's the last little bit of floor going down. Yesterday we pulled an all day session to get it finished.

The last rows were the worst. There was lots of measuring and cutting.

 It eventually came down to chiseling but it's all finished. I'll have the big reveal once we get the molding down and touch up all the marks I made on the wall with the hammer-ahem.

Normally we work from around 11 to 3 but since we worked past dinner we treated ourselves to a fast food feast. I even had a milk shake. I'll be sick all day tomorrow but I don't care. I get the whole day to NOT hit anything with a hammer. Sweet.

Warm and Cozy

 Pup has a couple of store bought sweaters that we put on her when we take her out in the cold. We keep her hair short so she really needs something warm and cozy.

The problem is that if I don't remember to put them in the closet the cats get them and make a nest out of them. I wake up to her sweaters covered in cat hair and needing a wash all the time so they are wet when I need them.

While we were out with her a PetSmart yesterday we looked for a new sweater or dog coat with no luck. We went to several other places and there was nothing but teeny tiny sweaters or huge ones.
I found this yarn at Walmart and decided to go home and knit her one. How hard could that be? I knit her plenty when she was just a wee pup.

 It's actually hard. Big needles and big yarn are hard on the hands. My thumbs in particular were killing me last night after only getting this far.

It is nice to have a reason to use my collection of straight needles that I never seem to use anymore but honestly, I think I'm going to just go look online for doggie clothes. This isn't much fun.

Piece By Piece

 When we knock off work on the floor early I can squeak out an hour or so at the sewing table that I pushed in front of the big window. When the sun is going down there is still plenty of light for hand sewing.

The latest Dear Jane is finished and has been added to the big pile.

The fate of the pile is unknown. Every time I see it I get goosebumps thinking about taking all those tiny glued in paper pieces out.

One of the good things about having an empty bedroom with a mattress on the floor is to be able to use it as a horizontal design wall. Daddio's very last paper pieced creation was stalled because I couldn't figure out how it was supposed to be put together but I think I figured it out.

 I had taken the time to label it back in the day but I couldn't make sense of it just looking at the piles of pieces.

Now that I know where to start again I think Dear Jane will take a break until I get this together. Working with these big pieces is the right speed for me now. At the end of a day of banging I am really tired.

Happy Feet

 Even thought there's been a lot of floor banging going on around here I am getting some knitting done.

 I get up early every morning put on the coffee, feed the cat herd and get a few rows on each sock before The Mister climbs out of bed.

 I am happy to say I am past the heels and on the feet of all five socks now.

 I was all excited about getting close to the finish and starting new socks when I remembered that three of them need a mate. Darn. There's a lot to be said about knitting both socks at the same time. I haven't even finished the first sock and already I have a bad case of SSS (Second Sock Syndrome for any non-knitters out there).

Handy

 We are still at it. We took the weekend off but have made a lot of progress since then.

For the first few days I was just a grunt but yesterday I graduated to putting in whole pieces all by myself. I'm more bendy than The Mister so he does the up work and I do the down.

 I can really swing that hammer now. I've even gotten good at counter sinking the finishing nails.

Drilling was scary at first but I got the hang of it too.

We are a little past halfway. By the weekend we should be putting down the trim and tackling the closet organizer. It won't be long until I'll be ready to tear up another room. I'm thinking the stash closet is next. I've got shelves from the old closet that I can sure use in there. I can't wait.

Nerd Talk

I threw the world's biggest hissy fit on Sunday. I should have been enjoying the rare snow day but instead I was kicking around computers and using language no one should ever have to hear.  This is my faithful old printer that in November stopped working for whatever reason. Of course after I ordered a new one it started working again just fine. Until Sunday.

So I dug out the new one and hooked it up only to find that it too wouldn't work. Neither printer would recognize my WIFI password.  #&$*#&$*$%!!!

After hours of researching the issue I gave up on the wireless printing I always had used and hooked up a USB to my Chromebook.

It also was a no go. It seems Chromebooks don't like USB printing. Their heads are in the clouds-literally. Google Cloud Print is the devil's work I tell you. The devil's work.

In desperation I dug out The Mister's old packed away desk top. Thankfully I got the USB cable to work with it. I was in no mood to deal with wireless anything at this point.

All this desperation was to get the February soap wrapped which as you can see I finally managed to do late that night.

I am not happy about having all this "technology" taking up so much space in the craft room but again-you have to do what you have to do.

Ta dah....an abbreviated label but a label. I can't believe I pulled this off. I feel like I should have earned a degree in computer tech after all this but I really can't tell you what I did or how I did it. It was hit and miss and it looks like I have a hit. For now.